L.A. elections key to new supermajority

Updated 10:08 pm, Friday, March 8, 2013

The eyes of Sacramento were pointed due south this week with the elections for various offices in Los Angeles, despite the paltry turnout of less than 20 percent of voters there.

That's because several members of the Legislature were running for offices there and those races create a musical chairs effect of open seats and - more importantly - more challenges for the Legislature's supermajority.

The Democrats in the state Senate already lost their two-thirds majority when Sen. Michael Rubio, D-Shafter (Kern County), resigned his seat last month. There are 26 Democrats and three open seats in the Senate and a two-thirds requires 27 Democrats. They could gain that back in the coming week, though, as special elections are scheduled to fill the two Senate seats that became vacant when those members resigned after winning congressional bids.

Problem is, two members of the Assembly are running for those open Senate seats, and if both win outright - by garnering more than 50 percent of the vote and thus eliminating the need for a runoff - then the Assembly loses its two-thirds supermajority (there are now 55 Democrats in that house; a supermajority is 54).

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Well, now add to that the fact that one member of the Assembly - Assemblyman Bob Blumenfield, D-Woodland Hills (Los Angeles County) - and one member of the Senate - Sen. Curren Price, D-Los Angeles - are both now in the May runoff for seats on the Los Angeles City Council.

If they win, it will add further complexity to Democrats finally having a solid hold on their supermajority. But don't fret - or, for some, celebrate too much. This will all be sorted out. Sometime.

Steve Maviglio, a Democratic strategist who has taken a temporary gig as spokesman for Assembly Speaker John Pérez, D-Los Angeles, said the musical chairs will end "in a few weeks, or months."

"I think the bottom line is if there is anything that needs to get through both houses (with a two-thirds Democratic majority) it needs to happen by early May," he said.

Otherwise, he said, the Democrats would have their super powers back by the end of the session in the fall or as late as next year. Now, if Republicans pick up any of those empty seats it will upend things once again, but at this point that does not look likely.

What about bipartisanship? Even though Democrats don't have that two-thirds hold in the Senate, that body this week did pass a measure on a bipartisan vote that gave it the necessary two-thirds support to make it an "urgency" bill. Such bills take effect the moment they are signed by the governor.

The measure appropriates $24 million from a fund in the state Department of Justice to deal with a backlog of nearly 20,000 people who have guns in California but, due to felony convictions, domestic violence actions, mental health conditions or addiction to narcotic drugs, are no longer legally able to possess them.

Department of Justice agents have to go get those guns, though, and the list is ever growing. The problem was first highlighted at a hearing in January, and representatives for Attorney General Kamala Harris said they could use about $8 million a year for three years to clear it up.

The outcry from lawmakers over the backlog was loud enough, however, that they agreed to inject all the money at once to take care of it as soon as possible, maybe even within a year.

"That is our hope," said Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, who was one of a handful of senators who authored the bill that passed 31-0. "There are certain physical limitations to how much can get done, but that's why we appropriated $24 million with the encouragement for the attorney general to move as quickly as possible."